Fire breaks out at world’s biggest produce market in Paris
PARIS — A plume of dark smoke billowed over Paris on Sunday from a warehouse fire at a huge produce market that supplies the French capital and surrounding region with much of its fresh food and is itself billed as the largest of its kind in the world.
Firefighters urged people to stay away from the area in the southern suburbs of Paris as 100 police officers and 30 fire engines battled the blaze at the Rungis international market.
Captain Marc Le Moine, a spokesman for the Paris fire department, said no one was injured. The fire had been brought under control and was not in danger of spreading from the football pitch-sized warehouse, which covers an area of 7,000 square meters (1.7 acres), he said.
The cause of the fire is unknown but will be under investigation, he added.
The sprawling wholesale market is a true city in itself, employing more than 12,000 people and warehouses full of fruit and vegetables, seafood, meat, dairy products and flowers from all over France and the world.
